Downloads

[sssfox]

Eddy,

First, I've been a member for a while and I have really enjoyed the site.

I'm not sure that people are "grabbing" all of the information from the site as you believe.  What I have experienced is that it is impossible to see if an article, plan or other information is something I am interested in, unless I download the whole thing. 

I'm probable one of those people that you are referring to, but I can assure you that it was not intentional.  I checked my PC and I have 7.81 MB of data from this site, but you can be sure that I "downloaded" a lot more, just to see if it was something I was interested in.  When I finished reviewing it, I just went to the next item.  The bandwidth is consumed whether the files are saved or not.  I have a fast connection and I spend a LOT of time on the internet researching my hobbies.  I visit many sites on a regular basis and consume a lot of bandwidth.  If the information is there and I think it may be of interest to me, I'm going to look at it.

I know this doesn't help, but I think it does more accurately describe the situation.  Is there some way to put thumbnails of the information on the site that wouldn't use as much bandwidth?

I know I have been able to find very few sites that have this type of information and I would not like to see the site shut down. 

If it is truly a problem, maybe a subscription would be the way to go.  The fee wouldn't necessarily have to be enough to pay for the entire cost.
Have you thought about advertising?

Thanks for all of your effort,
Steve Fox

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks for your comments Steve, they are appreciated....

The fact is that unless we move to a much more expensive hosting package, we do have bandwidth restrictions that mean we cannot let it be a "free for all" - I'd love to let everyone grab what they want, but we have to be realistic....

The download packages that are available don't allow for "thumbnails" to be downloaded by some, and the full files by others. Even if thumbnails were provided, the majority would still download the full sized article/plan, whatever.... It's human nature!

There is absolutely no danger that Paddleducks will be shut down... Rest assured it will keep going!

Paddlers are a minority interest and we have to accept that, so subscriptions are never likely to make any real difference to our income. Similarly, advertising is never going to work for the same reason - Apart from the fact that I would be strongly against it personally! I prefer not to have ties with any commercial company as that allows a free exchange of comments, both good and bad. It would be nuts to tie in with a commercial enterprise and then allow members to slag that company off - It would leave us stuck in the middle of a "no win" situation!

Our current setup of voluntary donations is working well, thanks to those that have supported us. A donation will give a member full access to our Downloads if they really don't want to post anything on the forum for example - Though I don't understand why anyone would join a website that was heavily message based, and not take an active part, that seems pointless to me! But the fact is that a few posts on the forum, a useful file upload, or a donation, will all gain access to our files - So payment is not mandatory, and free access is still available to those that do not wish to pay.

Anyway, it's getting very late at night, so it's time for me to get some sleep....

regards
Eddy

[waverleyjamesieboy]

Hi Eddy just to say I understand where you are coming from and just to let you know that just after joining up and leaving a few messages, I did not contribute for a wee while this was a fault with my internet connection  . Now its back working I hope to be able to contribute more. One of my next aims on here is to start a thread about my own Waverley built which is a complete scratch build including the hull which is currently under construction .


         WJB